Falling or Rising
by HanakoAnimeaddict
Summary: For solitaryloner's Stress Relief contest. Gumi was just a normal cat hybrid until she ran into what she assumed to be a bird hybrid. Of course, said bird hybrid probably didn't like her since she tried to pounce on it thus starting their first meeting.
1. Chapter 1

AN: For solitaryloner's Stress Relief contest. Using the pairing Gumi and Len... Um... anything else? No? Oh, I guess this is based off of "Ah, It's a Wonderful Cat Life" (or somewhat...)

Disclaimer: Me no own anything but... well, this... train-wreck.

Pairing: Eventual Megpoid/Len

* * *

Gumi, who happened to be a happy cat hybrid, was pleased to find new prey. It looked like a bird hybrid (with pretty white wings), and she stalked it. However, she didn't think that the bird would be shocked to find a cat stalking it, since cats were one of their natural predators.

"Hey. You're a weird bird," she said, trying to coax a cry of fear from the creature. Instead, she gained a confused look, in which the bird looked as if she had grown another head (or however the saying went.)

"What do you mean 'bird'? I am not a bird!" The other cried out in indignation, trying to flap its wings (probably to intimidate her).

"I mean, you have wings, so you are a bird hybrid, right?" She cocked her head, trying to think of something to explain the bird's weird behavior. "Did you hit your head on a branch?"

The bird spluttered, looking as if she had offended him (though he looked very feminine). "I am not so scatterbrained as to do something like that!"

"Touchy," she muttered to herself but by judging his expression, she was sure he heard her (and got pretty offended too.)

"What is a girl, I mean a cat hybrid, like you doing here in a city like this?"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" She didn't like the tone of his voice, as if he thought the town itself was a horrible atrocity that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

"I just mean that a pretty girl like you shouldn't live in a foul place like this." Maybe it was the plain honesty in his voice, or maybe it was the way he looked at her, but she was somewhat pleased by the comment.

"Don't think you can say something like that and get away with it," she hissed instead, trying to cover up the pleasure she got from his comment. "Don't think that you can just compliment me and I'll forget about what you said about my hometown."

He seemed to be taken aback, shocked by her anger. Maybe it was just her being overly sensitive, but she felt bad for snapping at him, since he seemed like such an innocent little thing.

"I-I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry about that. I just meant that this place is polluted with sinners, and I can't believe someone pure like you lives here," he murmured in a soft (sad) voice.

"H-how do you know about the people who live here," she murmured. She had guessed that this bird was someone new based on his actions, such as flying around in circles, and always returning to that one tree, drawing routes and such on the trunk.

"I assumed the worse of everyone?" The way he said it made it sound more like a question than an answer, and she was curious as to what he was hiding. (Everyone, on the other hand, said that curiosity killed the cat, though she wasn't sure that was the case as she was still alive.)

"You don't sound too sure of yourself," she murmured in reply, almost as if she didn't mean for him to hear it.

"What do you mean? I know what I'm talking about!" His feathers were ruffled, as if she had offended him.

"I just meant that it sounded like a question, not a response. You also seemed unsure of the answer, as if you didn't know whether or not what you said was true." Gumi was pleased with herself for being able to deduce that much, but she didn't say anything else.

"I really don't understand you," he muttered in reply. It probably was meant to be only heard by him, but very few things ever got past her ears.

"Well, you're not meant to understand me," she replied childishly, turning her back on him but keeping her senses sharp just in case he tried to do something in retaliation to that comment.

Instead of being attacked as she had expected, he started to laugh, as if amused by her exclamation. "I guess it's true that I shouldn't understand you. But, you see, I was told what to expect out of normal people. And animal hybrids."

She smirked, an uncharacteristic idea coming to her. "Why, yes, there are stereotypes that one should know about each species. So, dear birdie, what are some stereotypes of your species?"

He returned that smirk with a knowing smile, one that seemed to say that he knew what she was trying to do and that he wouldn't reveal anything. "Why, my stereotypes are for me to know, and for you to want to know about," he replied in a smug tone.

"Ah, but you seem to know much about me, don't you? Would it not be fair if I knew the same amount you did?" She tried her best to keep it as a formal discussion, but she was certain that some of her own contractions and informal words were seeping in.

"Why that is true. However, how do you know that I know so much about you? You have not spent enough time with me to know anything about me. Am I right?" He was toying with her, Gumi was sure, but she found that she was having too much fun to consider stopping.

"You seem to know enough about me, so is it not fair that I know the same amount that you do?" She smiled, daring him to say anything to counteract her statement.

"That is also true. You seem to ignore the fact that everything I have said thus-far, and have expected, were wrong about you. Please do correct me if I am wrong." He seemed much too smug for someone who had just met her, and made these assumptions about her.

"I... have to admit that is true... However, you seem to ignore the fact that I gave you some information about myself." She grinned, proud of pointing out something that was obvious in retrospect. While it wasn't much, she had revealed things about herself that she wouldn't for anyone.

"Is that true? Well, if I remember correctly, you only told me something that I picked up long ago." That smug grin was really annoying her, so she immediately ended the conversation—he couldn't do anything if she didn't talk, right?

The silence lasted for quite a while, and it was, ironically, almost deafening, but she managed to keep her mouth shut. That was until he slowly started to spread his wings—she couldn't help her curiosity.

"Wow, those are nice wings. Just what kind of bird are you? I haven't seen any birds with wings like that," she said, looking a bit embarrassed since she just admitted that the birds here weren't all that pretty and hard to look at.

That was the wrong thing to ask, as his face was suddenly devoid of any emotions, and he seemed to be trying to think of an answer that was suitable, but not the truth at all.

Finally, he opened his mouth to answer. "Who said I was a bird? What I am, I will not reveal, but I will say that I am not a bird." He suddenly jumped out of the tree, looking as if he would plummet towards the earth, but the wings opened, and he soared towards the unknown.

Sighing, Gumi muttered, "I hope I get to see him again."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: For solitaryloner's Stress Relief contest. Using the pairing Gumi and Len... Um... anything else? No? Oh, I guess this is based off of "Ah, It's a Wonderful Cat Life" (or somewhat...)

Disclaimer: Me no own anything but... well, this... train-wreck.

Pairing: Eventual Megpoid/Len

* * *

G

Gumi knew that she might've scared the pretty bird away, but she couldn't help but wait for him to return (just to annoy him.) However, she was planning on talking to him even if she accidentally killed him in ways she didn't even know.

However, the bird returned to its nest (well, she assumed it was his nest as he kept landing there) right before the sun set. She had planned on going out, but she hadn't expected the arrival of other birds, most of which had the same white wings as he did.

_'I wonder if he's really close to any of them,'_ she thought to herself. Gumi shook her head, and turned her attention back to her human, Rin, as her owner attempted to do some of her homework. While Gumi didn't understand anything, she had to admit that she was captivated by the Rin's concentration, and that she wanted to learn how to act like that.

Being a cat, she had the attention span of—there was nothing, really, that she could compare it to. Instead of being helpful to her owner (such as not bugging her), Gumi ended up asking her way too many questions that Rin instinctively knew the answer to (she said it was called common sense, but Gumi doubted that.)

It had lasted for a while longer, in which she learned some basic "math" skills—she had no use for these skills, but she'd take it to make her owner happy. Watching the tree outside from the window sill—she had taken to this place as she loved sleeping over there—she noticed that there was only one pair of white wings left.

"I hope I can talk to him tomorrow," she whispered to herself. "At least, I wish I could ask if I could talk to him tomorrow—it's too late to leave the house, and I'm not allowed to leave without permission."

The next morning, she found him surrounded by the others with white wings, and she stalked closer, hoping that she wouldn't be caught by them, and find out exactly what was going on. As she got close, she could sense the anxiety rolling off of most of them, though her little birdie, the one that she had talked to earlier, seemed to be calm enough, if that small smile on his face meant anything.

"Len, you nearly exposed us to a cat!" One of the white birds started flapping her wings frantically. "What would you have done if she found out that you were an angel?!" She (at least, Gumi assumed that this "angel" was a she based on her looks and voice) started to fly back and forth in what looked to be an angel's equivalent of pacing.

Len still looked calm, though she could tell that he was slowly losing his patience. "I had it under control. She didn't suspect anything until you said it right in front of her."

Gumi's eyes widened in shock. It was as if he had known that she was here since she had arrived. Covering her mouth, she hoped that she didn't gasp as loud as she thought she did; if she did, it would probably alert the others of her location.

Watching them talk about her knowledge of supernatural creatures (angels in particular) held no interest for her, and she turned away, hoping that something exciting would happen. It also didn't hold her interest as she watched them talk about how they would "deal with her", whatever that was supposed to mean. She quickly made her "escape", finding herself at the fence where she could see many creatures move about.

Purring softly, she crouched, planning on pouncing on the unsuspecting cat, which happened to be a very good friend of hers. Gumi was about to spring, and possibly get yelled at shortly after, when she was suddenly lifted off the ground and seemed to be floating towards the tree she had somewhat escaped just a while earlier.

Hissing, she tried to twist her way out of their grip, but she only succeeded in getting herself into a worse mess. Instead of flying smoothly for the next ten feet while being held about fifty feet in the air, the angel started to get wobbly as she struggled, making the flight even more dangerous than before.

When they finally reached the tree, which was not too soon for the cat hybrid, Gumi was immediately hounded for answers. Ranging from generic questions ("What's your name?") to extremely personal questions ("Would you tell me your three sizes?"), she tried to find a safe place in where she could be saved from the angel's insanity.

Looking towards Len, she hoped that he would help her out with her problem. Instead, he had that smirk, which infuriated her as he wouldn't help control the angels that overwhelmed her with questions left and right. Before she could stop herself, she jumped from the tree and bolted for the house.

Now, sitting and watching the angels argue more and more about her, she couldn't help but wonder why the angel flew so high—the tree didn't even reach fifty feet; at max, it was twelve feet tall. Sighing, she wished that she had a chance to stick around and ask questions of her own; she would have stuck around a little longer, but she didn't like being bombarded by questions.

"I wonder if it's possible," she murmured, keeping her eyes on the angels that floated in the tree. Watching them leave one by one, she planned her return to the tree to interrogate Len (the remaining angel) about her question when she heard Rin return home. Hoping to keep her owner happy, she ran towards the door, tackling her owner and hugging her.

As she attempted to placate her owner, and keep her own adventures a secret, Gumi belatedly realized that there might have been a reason that the angels didn't want anyone to know of their existence. Pushing that thought out of her mind, she planned on ambushing the angel tomorrow when he was alone.

It suddenly hit her, the intense "attraction" she had to the angel. Had anyone seen their interactions without knowing anything, she assumed that the person would state that she had "an obvious crush" on the "bird", but she knew better. At least, she knew that the "bird" was an angel, and that he might be the key to helping her get what she wanted.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: For solitaryloner's Stress Relief contest. Using the pairing Gumi and Len... Um... anything else? No? Oh, I guess this is based off of "Ah, It's a Wonderful Cat Life" (or somewhat...)

Disclaimer: Me no own anything but... well, this... train-wreck.

Pairing: Eventual Megpoid/Len

* * *

She sighed, wishing that Len would come out and play. At least, she could then put that plan into motion, in which she would corner him and get the answers she needed. She wanted to know everything about angels, and she wanted to know if she had the ability to become one.

Instead of seeing him out there in the tree, she noticed there were some hybrids in there with black wings. She didn't know if that meant they were a subdivision of angels or if they were actual bird hybrids (as it's normal for birds to have black wings.) In fact, they reminded her of the crow hybrids that nested there the year before.

"Maybe I should talk to them." Without considering the consequences, the cat hybrid made her way to the group of black-winged creatures.

At least they were better about noticing her than the angels. Almost simultaneously, they all turned to see her standing there, looking stupid as was humanly (was she even allowed to use that?) possible. It amazed her that the angels, who were said to be one of the highest of supernatural creatures, were bested by these black-winged creatures.

"So, we have a little eavesdropper here," one of them murmured, looking at her with interest. She shuddered slightly, getting that feeling that she wasn't supposed to be in their presence. If anything, the one that spoke looked creepy, and she didn't want him to be interested in her.

"It seems like we do," a girl replied, staring at the man with a bored expression. "She shouldn't be here, but she is. What does it mean? Does it mean that we found him? Or does it mean that we're too obvious? Maybe both."

The third one (out of eight of them) scolded them both. "You two are saying too much. Even if she knows of their existence, she shouldn't know of ours. At least, she shouldn't know what we are."

The two started to argue with her immediately, stating that she told the cat hybrid more than they did. It nearly got violent (in Gumi's eyes) when their supposed leader spoke up. "Stop arguing right now. It's obvious that you are revealing more and more to her. However, I don't care if she knows or not."

The three pulled apart almost immediately, teasing their leader for being the least discreet of them all. The banter was completely different from the argument, Gumi had to admit, and it was a refreshing change from the fight that had happened in front of her.

"I wonder if you could keep quiet for more than that," a voice said in a deadpan tone. Turning her head slightly, Gumi was shocked to find Len standing there as if he belonged here.

"Tch. Of course an angel would come. However, said angel cannot protect his beloved," the leader replied, looking a bit peeved. "I was only about to offer her what she wanted, wings, so back off little, _precious_ angel."

"She shouldn't be here, and you should not encourage her to join _your _cause. It really is a shame that we couldn't become friends." Len smirked as he noticed Gumi standing on the side, looking a bit awkward. "Of course, she's free to obtain wings. Just not with you guys."

"And who are you to stand in our way when you can't even say what's on your pretty, little mind," the leader questioned.

"What makes you think I can't speak my mind? I am speaking my mind at this moment, am I not?" Len seemed to have a retort for everything the other said. "Look, Kaito, it's not my fault you were casted out because of _certain _reasons."

"Len, I don't care about that. If I did, your little girlfriend here would be in trouble now, wouldn't she? If I cared about your betrayal, I would've killed you the day we were banished. However, that's not the reason I am here. I just want to know more about _that _girl."

"You won't touch her. You just want her to bring down the heavens, don't you? I don't even understand how you believed that I was for your cause. In fact, I know some of your followers suspected that I was a 'traitor.' I even heard them state their doubts about me… Too bad they were right."

"I always knew you were a traitor to our cause. However, I had hope that you would see our side about this, but it seemed that the hope went unfulfilled if this situation is anything to go by. You know why we want to destroy the heavens, don't you? At least you understand how I think. That's why the gods sent you—you know 'exactly how I think'." Kaito had a small smirk on his face as he said that. "Well, I hoped we would never meet, but it seemed that nothing goes my way. Heed my words, Len. Stay. Out. Of. My. WAY!"

With that said, the group dispersed, vanishing with the wind. As soon as they were gone, Len spoke up. "You should never talk to them. If you want to talk to others, look for friends that are cats."

Gumi just stared in shock—she hadn't expected to find out about this huge plot that revolved around the destruction of the angels' home, or that they would reveal such a huge thing to her. In fact, the only thing she could say was, "Who were they?"

"The group you saw are fallen angels. They were required to do something, which probably started the whole revolution… I shouldn't reveal these things to you, not when you're not involved. You should go back, kitty, to your home and forget everything."

Gumi's eyes widened at that. She didn't want to leave, not when things had gotten interesting. "You can't make me leave! I want to be involved."

For the first time, Len didn't look cocky or calm. Instead, he seemed depressed by her words. "That's what they all say before they die."


End file.
